This is a variation of a salad made this spring, with the addition of cucumber sorbet and yuzu vinaigrette. It was created for an abbreviated tasting menu, as a kind of combination of a seafood course and intermezzo.

This was the first time I’ve used yuzu as an ingredient, it definitely won’t be the last. Yuzu is an Asian citrus which resembles a grapefruit and has a similar tart flavor with sweet overtones. Yuzu is rarely eaten on it’s own, but is featured prominently in both Chinese and Japanese cuisine. The most common preparation featuring yuzu is ponzu sauce. One of the unique characteristics of yuzu is that the plant is hearty enough to survive tough winters, weathering lows of 15 degrees Fahrenheit. I wonder how it would fare in North Carolina’s climate…